Liquid Crystal-Reconfigurable Antenna Concepts for Space Applications at Microwave and Millimeter Waves

Abstract

Novel approaches of tunable devices for millimeter wave applications based on liquid crystal (LC) are presented. In the first part of the paper, a novel concept of a tunable LC phase shifter realized in Low Temperature Cofired Ceramics technology is shown while the second part of the paper deals with a tunable high-gain antenna based on an LC tunable reflectarray. The reflectarray features continuously beam scanning in between<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:mo>±</mml:mo><mml:msup><mml:mrow><mml:mn>25</mml:mn></mml:mrow><mml:mo>∘</mml:mo></mml:msup></mml:mrow></mml:math>. Also first investigations on radiation hardness of LCs are carried out, indicating that LCs might be suitable for space applications.